Search

This album contains autograph manuscripts and signatures of famous American politicians, military figures, authors, artists, actors, and religious figures, begun by Boston resident "Mrs. Russell" in 1859. A small number of contributors wrote directly into the volume, which also includes pasted-in letters, documents, poetry, excerpts, and signatures.

This album (145 pages) contains autograph manuscripts and signatures of famous American politicians, military figures, authors, artists, actors, and religious figures, begun by Boston resident "Mrs. Russell" in 1859. The first few pages include notes and signatures written directly into the volume, mostly dated at Boston in 1859. The majority of the album consists of pasted-in letters, poems, fragments, and standalone signatures written as early as 1759 and as late as 1920; 3 items from 1912, 1917, and 1920 are addressed to James C. McCabe of Bay City, Michigan. The correspondence refers to politics and current events, the memory of George Washington, and other subjects. One letter from Maria Mitchell to "My Dear Emily" assured the recipient that she had consulted the stars for auspicious signs (p. 100). The contributions from John Quincy Adams and James Madison are unsigned handwriting samples. The album includes a financial document signed by Jenny Lind regarding the distribution of proceeds from a charity performance (p. 6). A small number of materials are accompanied by clippings containing biographical information about the contributors. A complete index is available in the Manuscripts Division.

In this book, a traveling New England schoolteacher recorded instructional exercises, instructional explanations, poetry, and biographical information about pupils. The author taught in New Hampshire and present-day Maine. Subjects of instruction include arithmetic, surveying, geometry, nautical navigation, and writing.

A traveling New England schoolteacher recorded instructional exercises, instructional explanations, poetry, and biographical information about pupils in this volume (220 pages, 8" x 12") between 1787 and 1811. The author taught in New Hampshire and present-day Maine and entered personal information about teaching appointments throughout the volume. Individual lessons are dated as early as 1787, and the volume includes several lists of male and female pupils from teaching engagements in various towns, dated as late as 1811. Some lists of students are accompanied by the students' birthdates. Classes convened in schoolhouses, other public structures, and private homes.

Each page has a subject label, and several pages are comprised of miscellaneous questions entitled "A Collection of Questions," occasionally attributed to The London Magazine. Much of the volume pertains to instruction in mathematical subjects such as algebra, geometry, and trigonometry, and it includes diagrams, examples, and practical applications. Lengthy sections are devoted to surveying and nautical navigation (including "plane-sailing"), often with many diagrams. Other sections concern subjects such as writing and history, with examples of proverbs, deeds, marriage licenses, and letters for copying. Some pages have collections of anecdotes, proverbs, and poems, usually pertaining to morality and religion. A number of lengthier poems concern death and weddings, and one is entitled "Rodgers & Victory[:] Tit for tat. Or the Chesapeake paid for in British Blood!!!" Other parts include a cure for jaundice, a "rebus," a table of symbols for astronomical objects, information about "Occult Philosophy or Magic," instructions for gauging a copper kettle and a man of war, and a list of nouns with corresponding verbs and participles. Some of the material is copied from outside sources, such as John Love's Geodesia.

The Phebe Plant collection is mostly made up of personal correspondence between Plant and her friend Martha Barnes, especially regarding their religious convictions, as well as letters to Plant's mother, Rebecca Hearsey. Other items include a religious diary and poetry.

The Phoebe Plant collection (53 items) is mostly made up of personal correspondence between Plant and her friend Martha Barnes, as well as letters to Plant's mother, Rebecca Hearsey. Martha Barnes wrote to Phebe Plant from 1814-1819, often discussing her religious convictions and, on one occasion, a religious experience with an auditory component (April 21, 1818; in letter dated April 16, 1818). In a letter dated March 1815, she discussed her reaction to a book about Harriet Newell. Plant's letters to Barnes are mainly contained in an 18-page set of retained copies, which includes entries dated from December 19, 1814-November 30, 1815. Plant wrote about her Christian convictions. Other items by Plant include a religious diary with infrequent entries (July 2, 1816-June 15, [1817], 12 pages) and a poem "composed on the death of a wife" (1818).

After Plant's death in 1819, Martha Barnes occasionally wrote to Plant's mother, Rebecca Hearsey, offering condolences and reflecting on her friendship with Plant. The collection also contains letters that Rebecca Hearsey received from members of the Judd family and others; an account about the estate of Joseph Plant of Southington, Connecticut; and an invoice addressed to the Hearsey family (June 12, 1815).

The Manuscript Sheet Music collection is made up of manuscript music scores, correspondence, and composers' autographs.

The Manuscript Sheet Music collection (approximately 140 items) contains manuscript music scores and composers' autographs, as well as correspondence and other items.

The bulk of the collection is comprised of around 80 music scores, which range in length from one line to several pages; some are complete works, and some are fragments. Most of the brief melodies are accompanied by the composers' signatures and may have been intended as autograph gifts. The longer works are mainly piano and/or vocal scores, and some include lines for violin with piano accompaniment. Lyrics, when present, are written in English and German. Some of the scores are dated and signed, and a few were written in German cities. The cover of the score for "Barcarola" includes an engraving of "The Great Western crossing the Atlantic," and Harry Keyser's "Two Etudes for Pianoforte" is accompanied by a letter by the composer. A manuscript music book belonging to "Th. Hämb, Junior" contains several short pieces with lyrics in a Nordic language.

Additional autographed items include 25 autograph cards, 8 autograph musical quotations, 10 sheets of paper (some with inscriptions), and a photograph of violinist A. Rivarde. Many of the autographed cards, which are the size of business cards or visiting cards, are dated at Chicago in the mid- to late 1880s. The collection's 8 letters (in English, German, and Italian) include one man's opinion of a performance of "Wanda" and a letter illustrated with lines of music. Additional items are a program for a Manchester, New Hampshire, performance of the comic opera Jonah, an ink drawing of a decaying stone building, and lines of poetry or musical lyrics.

The collection consists of six penmanship exercises composed between 1815 and 1817 by Eirene Smith (aged 13), Nancy Smith (aged 14-16), Mary Smith (aged 17), and Loreney Stone (aged 17), likely students in the same class in Wayland, Massachusetts. The exercises consist of copied poems entitled "The Rose," "To Eliza," "On The Seasons," "To The Lilly," "Epitaph," and "Lines Written in a Winter's Walk."

The collection consists of six penmanship exercises composed between 1815 and 1817 by Eirene Smith (aged 13), Nancy Smith (aged 14-16), Mary Smith (aged 17), and Loreney Stone (aged 17), likely students in the same class in Wayland, Massachusetts. The exercises consist of copied poems entitled "The Rose," "To Eliza," "On The Seasons," "To The Lilly," "Epitaph," and "Lines Written in a Winter's Walk."

This collection is made up of diary entries, letters, and prayers by a woman who lived in Morris County, New Jersey, in the early 19th century. She discussed her religious convictions and activities, her social activities, and daily life. Internal evidence suggests that the materials may have belonged to Abigail Harrison.

This collection is made up of 90 pages of diary entries, letters, and prayers written by a woman who lived in Morris County, New Jersey, between December 25, 1815, and January 1, 1820. She discussed her religious convictions and activities, her social activities, and daily life.

The collection includes 3 diaries (67 pages). The first has paper covers with engraved illustrations and a multiplication table. The author wrote about her Christian faith, particularly with respect to good and evil and deliverance from sin. Her religious activities included reading the Bible and published sermons, attending church services, and attending prayer meetings. A few entries contain personal reflections on the death of the author's husband (January 1, 1819, pages 31-32) and her conversion to Christianity (June 27, 1819, page 66, and others).

The diary entries occasionally refer to missionary work; one entry mentions an extract from the Boston Recorder about a schoolteacher working with Native Americans in the west (January 4, 1819, page 36). The journal includes two religious poems (pages 12-13 and 21), one of which is attributed to Mrs. Isabella Graham. Additional manuscripts include one letter addressed to a sister and several prayers.

This volume contains financial accounts related to the sale of goods in the 1830s and to civil court cases heard in the 1870s.

This volume contains financial accounts related to the sale of goods in the 1830s and to civil court cases heard in the 1870s.

The first section of the volume contains an anonymous individual's accounts regarding the sale of various goods, including foodstuffs, household supplies, and tobacco, between 1831 and 1852; most entries are dated 1831-1833. These records are accompanied by notes about planting, a description of a flood, and a brief poem composed mostly of three-word lines (p. 81a).

The second section of the volume consists primarily of notes regarding proceedings and judgments in civil court cases in Berrien County, Michigan, between 1871 and 1873. These notes often include the names of involved parties and details about hearings. Oliver P. Miller, a justice of the peace from Lake Township, is frequently mentioned.

• George Washburn vs. Darwin Wrathman
• Samuel McLellan vs. Darwin Wrathman
• George Ennis vs. George Boyce
• Jacob Raas vs. Warren Nelson
• George Neidlinger vs. William Ushaw and Phillip Meyer
• Andrew Johnson vs. L. Carpenter
• People of the State of Michigan vs. Charles Sterling
• James Lewis vs. John Stiles
• George Neidlinger vs. W. H. H. Long

Other entries in this section of the journal include a "Form of Security for costs by nonresident," illustrated with the case of John Doe vs. John Jones; a "Form of Confession of Judgment;" the poem "The Vacant Chair;" and a song entitled "O come with me in my little canoe" [sic].

• Order for Solomon Neidlinger to surrender his residence and notes on a dispute between Joseph Beans and Melissa B[eans]
• Order for George Ennis to surrender his residence
• A poem, "Lines dedicated to H and M"
• Four pages from the Elson Grammar School Reader Book One
• A recipe for "Washing Fluid"
• A newspaper clipping featuring the following "Lost and Found Poems:"
  • "Unity"
  • "Hang Up the Baby's Stocking"
  • "Annabel Lee"
  • "I Don't Want to Play in Your Yard"
  • "Kingdom Coming"
  • "The Boat Song"
  • "The Discovery of America"
• A cure for whooping cough
• A newspaper clipping featuring "Poetry Written at my Mother's Grave"

A currently unidentified cobbler from Bristol, Maine, kept this daybook between 1836 and 1844, recording the names of customers, their purchases, and amounts charged. Customers purchased shoes, boots, and leather, paid for the labor of making or repairing footwear, and repair work on items like harnesses and halters.

A currently unidentified cobbler from Bristol, Maine, kept this daybook between 1836 and 1844, recording the names of customers, their purchases, and amounts charged. Customers purchased shoes, boots, and leather, paid for the labor of making or repairing footwear, and repair work on items like harnesses and halters. Several newspaper clippings of poems are pasted or laid into the volume, and the inside front cover bears several inscriptions by Annie Ervine.

The Irene Levis Roberts album, entitled "Flowers of Loveliness," contains poems by W. H. Green and A. H. Roberts of Smyrna, Delaware, and Edmund Brewster Green of New York, New York. A note about Roberts's baptism is also present.

The Irene Levis Roberts album, which has the title "Flowers of Loveliness" imprinted on the cover, includes 9 entries (17 total pages): 8 poems and 1 note. The poetry, mostly written by A. H. Roberts, concerns topics such as nature and the seasons, religion, travel, and death (see below for a full list of titles). The note by Thomas C. Murphy, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church in Smyrna, Delaware, pertains to the baptism of Irene L. Roberts on performed on March 11, 1855. Colorful crayon scribbles appear over one of the poems and on several of the later pages.

The book contains a series of colored prints show women dressed and decorated as flowers, each representative of a virtue.

• "To My Niece," by W. L. Green, November 25, 1852 (1 page)
• "The Flight of Time," by Edmund Brewster Green, September 7, 1844 (2 pages)
• "To My Friends," by A. H. Roberts, undated (2 pages)
• "On the Death of Mrs. S. M. of This Place," by A. H. Roberts, undated (2 pages)
• "Lines Suggested on Witnessing the Burial of Mr. D. Carr, Respectfully Addressed to His Widow," by A. H. Roberts, undated (2 pages)
• "The Home of the Christian," by A. H. Roberts, undated (2 pages)
• "The Hindoo Mother," by A. H. Roberts, undated (3 pages)
• "Reflections on My Past Visits to Cantwells Bridge, Addressed to E. D. Clark," by A. H. Roberts, copied by I. Roberts, May 1863 (2 pages)

This commonplace book contains 21 poems, 1 pressed flower, and 4 pages of manuscript music. Items originally laid in the volume, a map of United States Army encampments near Corpus Christi, Texas, and a drawing of a Spanish house in St. Augustine, Florida, are housed separately. Many of the poems relate to romance, and 3 are attributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

This commonplace book contains 21 poems, 1 pressed flower, and 4 pages of manuscript music. Most poems are 1-2 pages in length, and the longest is 4.5 pages. Five poems are accompanied by epigraphs, including one in Greek from Aeschylus's Oresteia, one from a Latin elegy by Sextus Propertius, and one from Chaucer's Anelida and Arcite. The book is divided into three sections, with 56 blank pages separating the first two sections, and 1 page separating the final two sections.

The first section (24 pages) contains 12 poems, three of which were inspired by the poetry of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832). Subjects include nature, knights of "A hundred Years ago," and love. The second section (22 pages), entitled "Poems under various dynasties," has 9 poems about a man's love, grief, loss, and longing for his beloved. The third section (4 pages) consists of manuscript sheet music for 3 songs

The book came with two illustrated items. Two manuscript maps were drawn on the same page by Ann Maine Wells: a view of the "Camp of the Army of Occupation, Texas," near Corpus Christi, Texas; and a portion of the Texas Gulf Coast shoreline from the Rio Grande to Corpus Christi. The second item is an ink drawing by W. H. B. of an "Old house at St. Augustine" built of coquina stone and plaster (1857).

• First section
  • "Little Mosses, Golden Mosses"
  • "Daiduchus" (with German epigraph from Goethe’s poem "An den Mond")
  • "At the Ford"
  • "A Hundred Years Ago"
  • Untitled ("O foolish flowers!...")
  • Untitled ("It is over; let me rest...")
  • "From Goethe"
  • "Evening" (with note: "On Lake Horicon")
  • Untitled ("Yesterday is dead!...")
  • Untitled ("I drew it to its full soft length...")
  • "From Goethe"
  • "From Goethe (Book of Zuleikha)" (with Greek epigraph from Aeschylus's Prometheus Bound)
• Second section: Poems Under Various Dynasties
  • Untitled ("Ours is a simple tale of love...")
  • Untitled ("Thou art my morning and my evening star...")
  • Untitled ("Evening shades are falling...")
  • Untitled ("Winter's in love with the springtime...")
  • Untitled ("I have a little darling, a winsome little pet...")
  • Untitled ("Oh gentle, uncomplaining face...") (with Greek epigraph from Aeschylus's Libation Bearers)
  • Untitled ("Dear, forgive me if I weep...") (with Latin epigraph from Propertius's Elegiarum)
  • Untitled ("Without a word, without a sign...") (with penciled epigraph from Chaucer's Anelida and Arcite)
  • Untitled ("Ah, the fearless little heart...")
• Third section
  • "Melody" (with lyrics)
  • "Nevermore" (without lyrics)
  • "Would thou wert here!" (without lyrics)